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Our cans and the environment

Consisting only of apples and not depending on artificial flavours or enhancers, our Apfelwein is an outright natural product. During its production we’re not using additives, gelatin or aromatised sweeteners. So it’s only natural, that we stand up for the environment with e.g. the initiative “Streuobstwiesenretter” or garbage pick-up campaigns.

Nevertheless, we had to figure out a way to get our Apfelwein from the cidery to your home. We thought a lot about the best environmentally appropriate solution. In the end, the aluminium can offers the most convincing conditions for the transportation of a fresh, high-quality product.

The beverage can may not be the best solution ever but for our Apfelwein it’s the best right now. Read more about the many advantages of the aluminium can and the German bottle deposit law below.

Sadly, some consumers don’t throw the empty can into the designated garbage bin but into nature. We’re not supporting this at all, that much is clear, but we have no chance to secure the proper can disposal of every single customer. So if you happen to find an empty can thrown into nature, please help us by picking it up and disposing it into the next trash bin. Environmental commitment can be exerted by everyone. Thanks!

Initiative "Streuobstwiesenretter"

Our Apfelwein is mainly made of apples from one particular region: The Forest of Odes (“Odenwald”). An essential part of this forest consists of “Streuobstwiesen”, meadows with scattered fruit trees. We have made it our mission to take care of these meadow orchards. Not only are the apple trees an essential part of the visual landscape of this forest, but they provide us with our main ingredient for our cider.

We want to take care of the ecological sustainability of our natural products, the apples. So we founded the initiative “Streuobstwiesenretter” (saviours of meadow orchards) together with environmentalists a few years back. For this voluntary work and the dedication towards our region and nature, we’ve been awarded with the citizen price of the metropolitian area Rhein-Neckar in 2012. More information can be found at the Streuobstwiesenretter-Webpage.

Frequently asked questions

Why go for the beverage can?

There are countless reasons to use the aluminium can. So many that it was clear to us: This is the appropriate packaging for our Apfelwein!
1. Cans are lightweight, compact, space-saving while being transported and easy to cool down. And last but not least, cans are one thing: safe. They do not break or spill! No risk of injury, no broken glass in your backpack or in nature. All these reasons make our Apfelwein cans e.g. the best companion for festivals or hikes.
2. Aluminium cans are the only beverage packaging that is light and oxygen impermeable. The Apfelwein is super fresh for a long period of time, the carbon dioxide remains sparkling and you can carry the excellent quality everywhere even after many months of storage.
3. Our cans hold 20 times more content than the same quantity of glass bottles. A fully loaded truck of Apfelwein cans carries only 3% in weight of packaging (compared to bottles: 38%). Thus, the can has a better CO² balance while being transported than glass as well.
4. Recycling, baby! With a material recycling rate of 99%, the beverage can is the most recycled beverage packaging in Germany. The recycling cycle of the Green Dot (Das duale System, der Grüne Punkt) allows the aluminium can to be completely and infinitely recycled without any loss of quality. Moreover, recycling aluminium does not reduce the quality of the source product (in contrast to other packaging material) – aluminium can be reused over and over again and come back to life as Apfelwein cans again.
We do not say that the beverage can is perfect. Nevertheless it is the best choice for our Apfelwein.

Recycling?

Our beverage cans are made of aluminium and can be completely and infinitely recycled without any loss of quality. The recycled aluminum has the same quality as the original product and this process can be repeated as often as you like. Moreover: Recycling aluminium only consumes 5% of the energy needed to produce new aluminium. So recycling saves valuable energy and reduces CO2 emissions. Incidentally, with a material recovery rate of 99%, the beverage can is the most recycled beverage packaging in Germany.

German packaging deposit law?

In Germany there’s a small security deposit payed for most beverage packaging, e.g. coke cans, energy drink cans, reusable and multi-way bottles. It ensures that one hands his or her empty bottles and cans back in at the grocery store. However, there’s no deposit for our Apfelwein cans. It’s due to the German packaging law (Verpackungsgesetz VerpackG), which states that wine and wine-containing beverages must not be assigned to the deposit system. The same goes for milk drinks or hard spirits by the way. So even if there’s no packaging pledge to our bottles in Germany and elsewhere, please discard them properly into the garbage bin.

Desposit of cans and trivia

Please deposit the can in the appropriate garbage bin, thank you! In Germany it’s the “yellow bag/dustbin”, which is part of the official German recycling system. We’re paying a fee for every bottle, by the way. By depositing the cans correctly, the life cycle assessment and environmental footprint is improved. Together with the lightweight packaging and the low transport distance to recycling facilities it’s overall a pretty decent beverage packaging.
A tetra pack would not be a real alternative to aluminium cans. Because if you cut open a tetra pack, what do you see inside? Right, aluminium. In addition, this kind of packaging is not suitable for transporting carbon dioxide and can burst more easily.
A returnable or multiway bottle does not make any sense for us either. The transport to return the bottles from all over Germany to their manufacturer, i.e. to the Cidery Krämer in the Forest of Odes, would be way too long. Driving individually returnable bottles from Hamburg or Munich to the Forest of Odes – this would be neither economical nor environmentally conscious.

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